Welcome to the History of English Podcast, a podcast about the history of the English

language.

This is episode 65, Norman Dukes and Dialex.

In this episode, we're going to continue our look at the rise of Normandy.

We'll cover a period of about a century, from Rallow's grandson all the way up to William

the Conqueror.

Along the way, we'll look at the evolution of the Norman language.

What began as an old Norse dialect from Scandinavia quickly gave way to a Northern French dialect,

and that Northern French dialect was later exported to England in 1066, and that process ultimately

led to the development of Middle English.

But before we begin, let me remind you that the website for the podcast is historyofenglishpodcast.com,

and you can always reach me directly at Kevin at historyofenglishpodcast.com.

So let's continue our look at the rise of Normandy, and let's begin with a quick review

of where we left off last time.

In the last episode, we explored how the feudal system developed in Northern France.

We also looked at the first two Norman rulers, Rallow and his son, William Longsord.

Both of them expanded Normandy across Northern France.

Even though they had a great deal of independence, they were also vassals of the French kings,

specifically the Carolingian kings.

But the Carolingians had a rival family in the Reberdiants, and as we'll see, the Normans

would play a key role in deciding the ultimate balance of power between those two families.

We also looked at how the Scandinavian language of the Normans was quickly abandoned once

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